Pärn extendsTrophy lead

Estonia’s Sander Pärn strengthened his grip on the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy after completing a hat-trick of wins from the opening three rounds at Neste Oil Rally Finland.

The 22-year-old delivered a mistake-free drive over four days of ultra-fast gravel roads to take his M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta R2 to 16th overall. He finished 2min 00.4sec ahead of Quentin Gilbert to extend his championship lead to 37 points.

“The season has been amazing for me so far. I have a comfortable lead going into the next rally but it is not over yet. I obviously want to win the Trophy but there are still challenges ahead. Overall I have driven with good speed and fought when I needed to,” said Parn.

Quentin Gilbert - moved to fifth in the points

Frenchman Gilbert failed to finish the opening two rounds but put his disappointing start behind him. He scored crucial additional points after claiming seven stage wins and moves to fifth in the points.

Norwegian Marius Aasen was on track for third until his car lost fuel pressure in the final stage and he retired. Yeray Lemes was promoted to third and remains third in the standings.

Max Vatanen, son of 1981 world champion Ari, led after the opening leg but struggled to find a rhythm on the following days and slipped to fourth.

Tom Cave, second in the points, led before being overhauled by Pärn. He plunged down the order after breaking his car’s front suspension and finished seventh.